The game begins when four prisoners, created by the player, are accused of vile acts of treason by the court, but by the "mercy" of the king, the prisoners are given a chance to atone for their crimes via the ancient prison of Mount Grimrock. If the prisoners can make their way through the prison and escape it via the mountain's base, their crimes will be forgiven and they will be free to go. There is just one problem: Mount Grimrock is a den of evil and mystery, home to countless monsters, traps and other dangers. Will you survive?

The game is played in real-time, and provides the players with many puzzles to solve, harkening back to the RPGs of yore. A sizable amount of fan-made campaigns for the first game (created with its built-in Dungeon Editor) are available through Steam Workshop and Nexusmods.

Due to the positive reception of the first game, a sequel titled Legend of Grimrock II was produced and released on October 15, 2014. Set on an Island of Mystery instead of inside a single dungeon complex, it adds a new race (the cheese-loving, mutation-prone Ratlings) and several new classes, along with an overworld connecting various dungeons.

Legend of Grimrock provides examples of:

Absurdly High Level Cap: Reaching the level cap of 50 requires several billion experience points, with monsters giving around a thousand at most.

The Alcatraz: The eponymous Mount Grimrock, at least the higher levels with numerous jail cells and shackles hanging on the walls. Near the end of the game it's revealed that the real threat imprisoned within is the Undying One.

All There in the Manual: The "Ramblings of an Old Sage" found in the manual fleshes out the backstory of the game, detailing Lord Perel's ill-fated expedition into the dungeon and the reason the king is sending prisoners into its depths.

A Load of Bull: One of the races you can choose in character creation.

Already Undone for You: At least Toorum and no doubt other convicts have gone through the dungeon before, but all the traps, treasures and monsters are still there. Lampshaded by one of Toorum's notes.

Toorum: There have been people in these hallways before me but when I went through this place here it seems like I was the first to open all the doors and press all the buttons. There has to be some people who oversee the dungeons.

Always Accurate Attack: While melee attacks have a chance to miss every time, ranged attacks such as spells and throwing weapons have a 100% accuracy. Since accuracy is based on Dexterity and damage on Strength, this actually makes the strong but clumsy minotaurs the most effective archers.

Artifact Title: The sequel. While the original game is named after its location in the dungeons of Mount Grimrock, the sequel takes place in an entirely different setting, the Isle of Nex.

Awesome, but Impractical: Many of the final perks in skill trees. For example the final perk of Spellcraft reduces all spell costs by 50% which is great on paper - but getting it also means your mage won't have any real spells, making them dead weight for most of the game and the perk itself practically pointless.

Badass: There are notes scattered around by one Toorum, who basically solo'd the entire dungeon. The dungeon which you are currently having difficulty with a party of four. Toorum is also a Secret Character if you manage to unlock him, and his stats truly are Badass.

Bare-Fisted Monk: You can create a character specializing in hand-to-hand combat with the Unarmed skill tree. Adding the "Fist Fighter" trait pre-game is always helpful too.

Big Bad: A sentient mechanical cube known as the Undying One imprisoned in Mount Grimrock a long time ago. Exactly why is left unclear, as in-game the only things it can do is communicate through dreams and... roll around.

Critical Hit: All physical attacks have a chance to be critical hits. Improved Critical doubles this chance for melee and Master Archer/Throwing Master for ranged attacks.

Damage Over Time: The classic poison, a common hazard in the dungeons of Mount Grimrock, particularly Level 3.

Deadly Gas: Available as a spell, released as an attack by certain enemies and used in a number of traps as well.

Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: Unlike others in this genre. If party members die, they may easily be brought back to life at no cost at a Healing Checkpoint. The worst that may happen is they'll miss out on experience points while they are dead.

Everything Fades: Or, more specifically, explodes in a shower of sparks on death.

Faux First-Person 3D: This is part of what makes the game special; it has a Dungeon Master style UI and gameplay that was used when 3D rendering in video games wasn't a cheap or easy-to-make option. This is done partly to instill nostalgia in "gaming veterans" of this genre.

Foreshadowing: You get rampant dreams with a being who is supposedly in the bottom of the dungeon. The background of the dream is surrounded by cogs, which hint at its mechanical nature.

Also, in the first level, you can activate a switch which leads into a secret area which has an ominous statue and some loot. It's an Illithid-like being, which you will fight deeper down the dungeon.

The foreshadowing starts even before then. The introduction movie at the start of the game shows much larger versions of the ominous statues standing around the entrance hole to the dungeon.

Fragile Speedster: The Shrakk Torr are extremely fast insects but fall to a couple of blows. Also any character wearing the purely evasion-based Lurker armor. Rogues, especially Lizardman rogues, generally end up as this.

Glass Cannon: Mages, which is why their place is in the back row. Watch out for ambushes or traps and spells that damage the whole group, though.

Rogues usually retire to the back row after picking up the Level 12 Assassination ability (melee attacks can be used from the back) or using missile weapons, after which attention to their protection and vitality usually wanes.

Goomba Stomp: Falling into a pit and landing on an enemy will immediately kill it (and net the player an Achievement). However, you'll still take falling damage.

Healing Potion: The only way to restore health in the middle of combat, barring fighting near a Crystal of Life. You'll find a couple, but most you'll have to brew yourself.

Herd-Hitting Attack: The biggest advantage of spells over other attacks is their ability to damage every enemy on a single tile. For the same reason they're also one of the biggest threats against your group.

Heroic Mime: Your group members never say a word, though their heroism is debatable since they're prisoners just trying to survive.

Island of Mystery: The setting of the second game. It has a full set of ancient ruins (including a pyramid), talking statues, extremely dangerous wildlife, a vicious band of Ratmen pirat(e)s and the mysterious Island Master who likes to leave taunting messages to anybody unfortunate enough to wash up on its shores.

Jack-of-All-Trades: Humans during character creation, with them having average stats, unlike the other races that are meant for a particular class, but also having the most skill points starting off.

Jump Scare: If you get attacked while resting, the black screen will smash back to life out of nowhere.

Language of Magic: The spell system is based on runes presumably spoken by the caster and representing different concepts such as Fire, Balance and Spirituality.

Last Lousy Point: On the last floor with two or three secrets missing? Hopefully you're not a completionist, or you'll be backtracking through the entire dungeon with a fine comb.

Lethal Joke Character: The farmer class in the sequel starts off with rather weak stats and about as useful in combat as one would expect an actual farmer to be compared to career warriors and wizards. However, farmers have one advantage that, if properly taken advantage of, makes them surprisingly effective: they gain XP from eating food rather than fighting enemies. With the right combination of XP-boosting items and constant binging, a farmer can over-level and outstrip the rest of the party.

No Experience Points for Medic: Characters who don't damage the enemies you kill will quickly fall behind in experience, which is especially a problem for your back row characters early on. Equipping them with spears is a good idea, allowing them to attack and be useful until ranged weapons and spells become available.

Averted in the sequel: the entire party gains experience whenever anyone kills monsters.

Player Mooks: You control four prisoners, and that's as far as characterization goes.

Point of No Return: While you can backtrack as many floors as you like at any time to search for treasure and secrets, you should do so before inserting the four mechanical parts on floor 12.

Poison Mushroom: Poignant Potions have no other uses but to poison you should you brew and drink one.

Power Equals Rarity: Many of the best items are one-of-a-kind and often hidden behind a puzzle or in a secret room.

Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Your group consists of four prisoners who are promised freedom should they survive through the dungeon alive.

Rare Candy: There are three hidden magical tomes in the game, each giving permanent bonuses to the character who reads it.

Ratmen: In the sequel, Ratlings exist both as NPC enemies (with a distinct piratical theme) and as a playable race. They start out with fewer total stat points than other races, but they can gain random permanent stat bonuses from eating cheese and can take a trait that will grant them a random stat increase at each levelup.

Reptiles Are Abhorrent: In the game's universe, lizardmen are generally mistrusted and treated as outcasts. But luckily, you can play as one!

Secret Character: If you find Toorum's remains, use them on a Crystal of Life, start a new game, enter the name "Toorum" and press enter, you start the game with Toorum who is alone but has access to a unique combination of skills and the ability to move twice as fast as normal party members.

Secret Level: Spoiled if you look at the achievements in the steam version.

Self-Imposed Challenge: There is an Old School Mode, wherein the player doesn't have the luxury of the automap.

Shiny Sense: The various keys you'll find usually shine to make them easier to detect.

Suspicious Video Game Generosity: Just before the 3rd level, you come across a sack which contains the items necessary to create potions. The antidote comes especially useful in the 3rd level, since it is full of poisonous spiders.

Wall Master: The first encounter with the Tentacles will probably leave you paranoid for the rest of the game.

Wizard Needs Food Badly: Like the Dungeon Crawlers of old, your party members need to be fed regularly. However, food isn't that scarce, and starved party members will simply stop regenerating health whilst resting.

Zerg Rush: Scavengers◊ are some of the weakest enemies in the game, but they tend to appear in such overwhelming numbers that the few times you encounter them are some of the most dangerous situations you'll find yourself in.

Zip Mode: To make up for the lack of party members, Toorum has the unique Thunderstruck trait which doubles his movement speed.

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